Light and Darkness
by Zenes
Summary: What if Takahashi had stuck with his original Yugi is Yami setting, wasn't working with a children's magazine, and stopped to come up with proper rules for the game? Rated M. WARNING: Lot's of Season 0 Yami!
1. Chapter 1

This is YuGiOh DM as it might have been if Takahashi had stuck to the original Yugi=Yami=Atem setting, wasn't working with a children's magazine, and if he had come

up with proper rules for the game.

Some things I should tell you beforehand:

1\. I will be changing some of the card name and effects.

2\. I will be trying to simplify the game rules a little.

3\. I will be changing characters' name and nationality, because it was always weird for me that they were all Japanese.

3\. It might be better for you if you pay attention to the changes in the characters' appearance, especially Yugi's, as it is a clue to his mental state.

4\. The fact that I'm trying to write good duels does not mean that I will be neglecting drama, which is why this is rated M.

5\. I like things to be logical, so this will be SF as well as fantasy. (I could never get over how they had hologram technology, but everything else was 90s.)

If I get a good respose from this, I may be writing my own version of gx and 5ds.

* * *

**Prologue**

Two boys walked through the streets of Suginami City.

"I've been corrupted."

"Oh, stop moping."

"Depraved. Ruined beyond salvation."

Katzya sighed. "It's just for one year. And you're the one who brought hairstyle into this."

"So that you wouldn't look like you're down with the gangs."

"But I'm doing you a _favor_," Katzya grinned. "Now you look a lot more like someone that's actually alive."

Yugi ran his fingers through his hair. It was rather long, reaching his jawline. Originally black, it now had scarlet bands running through two-thirds of its length,

meeting at the ends. There were longer lengths of gold, and the locks spilling from his forehead had been dyed completely gold.

"Nobody has three-color hair outside of VR,_ nobody_," he snapped. "Seriously, what's your problem with monochrome?"

"Your wearing nothing _but_ monochrome is the problem." Katzya stated. "One of these days you were going to be mistaken for a specter during your late-night walks

and give a poor, old lady a heart attack, and then it would be on _your_ conscience."

Yugi scoffed. "Right, like any of them would want to leave the silver cities."

"Seriously, you do look better this way. Besides, the color goes well with that pendant you're always wearing." Katzya insisted. "Come on, just a year."

Yugi sighed. "Alright, I did lose the bet. I suppose it won't kill me."

They had reached the crossroads, and from here they would take different paths to their houses.

"Are you going straight home?" Yugi asked.

"No, I want to pick up some cards first. There a new tournament coming up, and I heard there's a new pack for Fire attributes. Can't let people think the Duelist of Flames

died off somewhere!" Katzya said, grinning.

Yugi shook his head. "There you go about duelists again. I don't understand why you put so much meaning into a children's card game."

"It's not a children's card game!" Katzya protested. "This is completely different from those Pokemon and Digimon cards! The serious players are all like in their 20s, and the

amount of the prize money-"

"Okay, okay, " Yugi said quickly, before Katzya went into another tirade about his beloved card game. "It's not for children, I get it. See you tomorrow." He turned around

and hastily made his escape.

Once he was a safe distance away, Yugi slowed down, and again ran his hand through his hair. It had been several years since Japan had given up on uniforms and

hairstyle regulations for high school students, but the notion that a proper student focused on studying and did not sport flamboyant hair or outfits was still prevalent, and

even people who dyed their hair a single color, like Katzya did, was rare. With 3 colors, no one was going to see him as a normal high school kid. Not that he was normal

anyway.

Not since he had started wearing the pendant.

* * *

NOTE: Yugi doesn't duel yet. Nor is he very interested in other games. I always thought it awkward that a boy who liked games of that genre would be of the shy, timid type.

Actually, from everything I see in the anime, I'm surprised that he is the timid type at all. Which got me thinking that _there must be something behind this..._


	2. Chapter 2

Yugi stepped inside the wooden, two-story house. It was a small house by the standards of the neighborhood but still became too big for him when his father

died 2 years ago. He had been furious, back then. Why did his father had to have a child at such an old age. Couldn't he have done it a few years earlier? If he

had he would have been around until his son was a proper adult. Sure, kids were given legal independence at a minimum age of 14 if they asked for it, but that

didn't mean they were really grown-ups. And there was no one else he could turn too. His father had no living relatives, and as Muto Sugoroku had 'solo-parented',

he had no other donors to contact. Yugi never had any real friends, either. Until he met Jonouchi a year ago, the best he had were 'classroom friends' who

dropped relations when they moved on next year. So when his father died Yugi had been left totally alone.

He carefully arranged his shoes at the entrance hall so that the noses pointed to the door, then picked up the small package he had found at the gates. He

seldom got mail, and since the sender seemed to be some company he didn't know, it was probably just one of those product samples that were distributed to

collect opinions. The package was small, hardly wider than his hand. When Yugi opened it, he found what looked like a small memory chip. He frowned as he

picked the chip up. Why would somebody send him a memory chip over the post instead of just emailing him? It was suspicious. In all probability it was something

that shouldn't or couldn't be sent over the net, like a computer virus.

For a few minutes he stood there having an internal argument, then sighed and went upstairs, curiosity getting the better of him. If his computer crashed

because of the virus, at least it would make the day memorable. His life was boring, after all.

There were 2 rooms upstairs, and he went into the smaller one, his so-called 'study'. It used to be his bedroom, until the day he just went and threw all his

dead father's belongings out, no longer able to stand being reminded of his father at every turn. He regretted it now, although the disposal had helped him \

get over his father's death, and he had moved his bed and wardrobe to his father's old bedroom, in an attempt to resist the loneliness. In the 'study', only

the computer desk remained, which he now approached. The screen flipped up and he slid the chip into one of the channels.

There were 2 files. He clicked on the first-a video file. An unfamiliar logo slid across the screen, then was replaced by the image of man with long, silver-grey

hair. He wore an unusually styled suit, something from the 19th century maybe.

"Greetings, Yugi. I am Maximilian J. Crawford, head of the M&W, and creator of the game Duel of Mages. This is an invitation for you to participate in the

upcoming DM tournament that I will be hosting in 4 months. I am quite aware that you have little experience in the game, but this tournament is rather

something of an irregular, and even people that have yet to prove themselves to be powerful duelists will be participating. Hopefully the card I sent along

will aid you in your battles."

The man paused. He leaned forward a little, a strange smile forming upon his lips.

"I would strongly recommend participating, Yugi. It is a rather valuable card, and I am willing to allow you permanent possession. Just entering the

tournament would entitle you to its possession. And if you make it to the finals you will have the opportunity to meet me personally….to ask me what I know

about the necklace you are so fond of wearing."

The video ended. Yugi stared at the screen for a full minute before he clicked on the other filed. The image of a card appeared, several lines of data in the

window on the side, the same format he'd seen countless times on Katzya's computer. It was a man. Black headdress flowing out from golden circlet with blue

center stone. Black and gold attire-something like a cross between an armor and a robe. Clear sapphire eyes looked back at him, and the little amount of hair

he could see was also of the same color. The letters at the top announced: Chaos Mage.

Suddenly he felt it again; the sensation of a door opening at the back of his head. The air that flowed out from behind it was heavy, almost agonizing, and _old_.

Shadowy fingers slowly reached out to the card. For seconds, the hand lingered, slowly brushing against it. Then equally slowly, they withdrew, dissipating into

nothing. A moment later the door closed once more.

Yugi let out the breath he had been holding. With trembling fingers, he lifted the pendant from his chest and stroked it. It was the only one of his father's things

that he hadn't thrown away. His father had handed it to him some time before dying, oddly insistent that Yugi kept it safe, no matter what.

He wondered if his father knew, that _he _wouldn't be the one keeping the other safe.

* * *

NOTE:

1\. About solo parenting and donors. I'm going to elaborate on the subject later. For now just keep in mind that this is taking place in the 2060s.

2\. I had to change the name of Yugi's ace card. It's important for my canon.

3\. I should tell you that in Japan, high school students don't move from room to room for their classes, they stay in the same homeroom and the teachers

come to them. So kids usually stick with their classmates, and while there are clubs for students to join, they're not divided into 'factions' like the high school

students in the States. That was what I meant by 'classroom friends'.


	3. Chapter 3

This chapter is for explaining my version of the rules. I'm using the OCG rules as base, but I've tried to simplify them,

and changed a few of the more important rules because I've decided that I will do GX and 5D's after this. Some balancing

is needed in order for that. Also, please read The NOTE at the bottom.

* * *

Katzya scratched his head and leaned against one of the side of the duel stage.

"You sure you want to do this, Yugi? You've got only 'bout 4 months to prepare. And it's a 'Duelist' tournament. That means

Master rule, not Gamer rule. A whole new level. You'll probably get knocked out at the first match, and it would be complete

waste of your time. And money. You're going to have to buy a lot of cards to get the deck you want, and no single card is

worth that."

"I thought you said that the rules weren't that different."

"No, but it's the key rules that are different, that's the problem. Life points are 6000 instead of 8000. And Gamer rule allows

you 40 to 70 cards in your deck, but if you have more than 40 cards you can put the extra cards in your Extra Deck, which

makes drawing the right cards a lot easier. But Master rule doesn't allow Extra Decks, and the cards have to be at least 60.

To 70. And Fusion and Synchro are at a big disadvantage, because the monsters used as Material are supposed to be

incorporated into the monster you summon, so the Materials are removed from the game instead of going to the graveyard,

and they can't be returned until the monster you summoned is back in your hand or deck. And whatever skill was on the

Material-battle or card effect-succeeds to the monster you summon. And you have to use only Monsters, not just any Servant.

And in Fusion's case, well, there are several cards that allow you to fuse from the deck or the grave at the price of removing

the Material from the game, which makes it a lot easier, but since Master rule says that Material is always removed, that's

not a valid cost, so those cards are banned. You can't attack with Fusion monsters in the turn they were Fusion Summoned, either."

"There's also the thing with Monster effects. In Master rule card effects are classified into passive and active. Passives work like a

background setting for Monsters, and have priority over active effects, which means that they can't be negated. And the active

effects can't be used in the first turn."

"The crown of it all is the Chain System. Player rules allow the effects to be resolved in reverse order, but not Master rule, so there's

a lot less room for you to counter your opponent's moves, and a lot of pre-planning's needed."

Katzya stopped, out of breath. Yugi considered what his friend had said.

"I'm not really getting it, I think," he said slowly. "But I want to do this, Katzya. It's not just the card-that man, Mr. Crawford said

that he knew something about my pendant."

"Your pendant?" Katzya looked at the object lying on his friend's chest. 3 concentric circles of gold, the innermost holding the black

centerstone. 3 long arms spanned outwards, 2 upside, 1 down. In between were 3 shorter arms, reaching just beyond the outermost

circle. "It was your dad's keepsake, right?"

Yugi nodded. "I've always wondered about it-"

"But how can he know? How does he know about you, or your father anyway? You don't even play the game."

"I don't know, but dad went around a lot when he was younger. Maybe he met Mr. Crawford during his travels-he seems to have

made friends all over the world."

"Enemies too, no doubt."

Yugi shook his head. "I don't think he's inviting me to a tournament because he wants to get back at my father or something...

that would make no sense." He fingered the pendent. Yugi's father once said that rest used to be impossible for him, and

that he always had to keep moving. When he found the pendant, he felt that somehow, _this_ had been what he'd been looking for,

all along.

Katzya scratched his head again. He supposed it was a weird way of picking a bone with somebody. If Pegasus had something

against Yugi, he could just hire a hit man-he could certainly afford it. The patent-holder for the first commercialized hologram

technology.

"Oh, well...what's the card he gave you, anyway?"

Yugi called the data up on his phone and handed it to him.

"Chaos series?" said Katzya, sounding troubled.

"Is something wrong?"Yugi asked.

"He said this would help you, huh?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, a Level 5 Chaos should be a powerful card...but...2500/2100, Spellcaster, Effects-hmm, useful, I guess, but unusual.

Most Level 5 and 6 Monsters have really powerful effects that can turn the game, but this guy's effects are, like, supportive.

And the attack points aren't powerful enough to make up for it, either. Just the standard cut line."

"There's a standard for the points?" Yugi asked.

"Sure. Just multiply 500 to the levels, add 500 and take the points down from there, until you reach –500. The more powerful

the effects, the less attack points. Though sometimes a Monster has both effects and high attack points-but those usually

have low defense points."

"So... Level 1 Monsters go from 0 to 1000, and Level 2 from 500 to 1500, and so on until Level 7, which is from 3000 to 4000?"

"No, no, leave Level 7 out, always." Katzya said hurriedly. "1 to 6 is the main base for the game. Level 7 is always... something else."

"6 and 7 means a lot of things in this game, huh? Levels, deck number, life points..."

"6 is absolute, 7 is transcendental-that's what Pegasus said."

"Who's Pegasus?"

"Maximilian J. Crawford, the creator of the game. Pegasus is his Duelist ID, god knows why he has one. Everyone knows his

real name already. But Yugi, the real problem with the card isn't the effects or the attack points. It's one of the Chaos series-look

at the attribute"

"Light, and Darkness... what about it?"

Katzya scratched his head. "This was what I was going to tell you about earlier." He walked over to one of the two chairs on the

Duel Stage. He opened a compartment on the arm of the chair and drew out what looked like a thick headphone. "Okay, sit here,

and put this on."

Yugi complied. Katzya pressed some buttons on the end of the opposite arms, and the headset hummed to life.

Pale blue letters floated in front of his eyes. "See the list on the left side? Find Tuning Test and click on it."

Yugi reached out with his mind and tapped on the words. He was surprised at the quick response. "I thought you were supposed

to do the tuning before you actually tried to use it."

"This isn't your regular AR, Yugi. It's high-tech, really. Military level. You know KC, don't you?"

"This is their technology?" He threw a glance at the Duel Stage in front of him. "I didn't know they were in the gaming industry."

"They changed about 2 years ago. Withdrawing from arms and focusing on casual VR and AR. Though the technology used in

_this_, is pure military. Here, " Katzya handed Yugi's phone back. "I connected it to the system for the test. Just press Start."

The air in front of him seemed to flicker. The next moment, streams of aurora lights seemed to spiral up from the stage, and

then the Mage was standing in front of him. Yugi's breath caught in his throat. Was it his imagination, or was there, something,

deep inside those solemn eyes?

"Okay, see the bar gauge? Now imagine that you're putting your strength, your will, into him.

Don't just think it. You have to really throw yourself into him."

Yugi tried. The bar slowly lengthened. 60...80...97...124...than back to 95...

"It's not moving past 100," said Yugi, frowning in his effort.

"Actually, it's a good sign you get it to move on the first try. Shows you have a knack for it.

Most people take half an hour before they get the hang of it."

"This is called Spirit Charge, and it's one of the 2 reasons why this game isn't just a game. It's your mental strength that gives

your Monster the power to fight. You can't deal with that, you can't play the game."

"What's the other reason?"

"The second is called Destiny Inception. And it's... basically, what allows you to draw the card you want. Otherwise, you just get

the card at the top after the system shuffles the deck. You're not a real duelist if you can't control every draw."

"Hang on," Yugi interrupted. "Where's the point of a card game if you can always pick what you want?"

"Because not everyone can do it. And even the best duelists have trouble if they're drawing from near the bottom of the deck, or if

they're drawing more than 1 card at once."

"Oh, does this take willpower too?"

"Yup. And that's why this game's so hard to play. But nobody's strong enough to do it by just the strength of their minds. You

have to be linked to your cards. In tune, so that they respond better to you. It's why most players try to make decks that

reflect themselves. Why most of them stick to a single card series, or a single attribute or type. Actually, they get cards that suit

them in the first place. Go back to the Main Menu, see 'Store'? That's where you buy the cards. You can choose the pack

you want, but the rest is the same. The stronger you are, the more powerful cards you end up with, and for that it's better

to aim for card that you can feel close to. Not always, though. There's a limit to the number of cards they make, after all.

You can't get cards if they aren't there in the first place."

"So according to you," Yugi said slowly. "This card doesn't work well for me, because I won't deal well with Light or Darkness attributes?"

"No. Because this card's both attributes at once. Chaos Monsters can be treated as Light or Darkness attributes, or both,

controller's choice, and that's one of the reason's they are powerful, but_ nobody_ can tune into those cards, Yugi. People

have trouble tuning if they mix 2 attributes in their decks. It's the reason why I can't use my Black Flame properly. It

becomes really hard if you try to use opposite tributes, like Light and Darkness, Water and Fire, Earth and Wind. Especially

Light and Darkness. The few people who can, make a Light centered deck and add a few low level Darkness attributes, or

vice versa. Only one duelist's been known to use both high level Light and Darkness Monsters, and he doesn't duel anymore.

But Chaos series, is impossible. They're both Light and Dark at once, and nobody can deal with that."

"I do not understand the point of this, Mr. Crawford. I proposed a business deal. What does dueling have to do with this?"

"Oh, sentimental issues. I know you don't take well to such things, but simply put, you are asking me to allow you to handle

something that I poured my soul into. I am asking you whether you have the resolve to risk yours."

Silence.

"Very well, _Pegasus_. I will come."

* * *

NOTE: Alright, main points of my version of the game. Please read; I didn't put everything upthere. DM duels will be by Master rule,

GX and 5D's by Gamer rule.

S

1\. DM, or Duel of Mages is a game where 2 'Mage's fight. As they are mages they fight with

magic, and summoning 'Servant's to protect them. **There are Levels of 1 to 6 for all Monster,**

**Spell, and Trap card.** There are also a few, hyper-rare Level 7 cards. Most 'Servant's are

summoned using Monster cards. **Token monsters and Trap monsters are 'Servant's but not**

**Monsters**. There are 6 attributes for Servants and **6 types: Dragon, Spellcaster, Warrior, Beast,**

**Spirit, Undead. It is possible for Servants to have more than 2 attributes or belong to more **

**than 2 types.** And it's up to the controller to decide which. If a Monster is both Spellcaster type and

Warrior type, the controller can use Spellcaster support or Warrior support, or both at once. If the

opponent activates a card effect agains Spellcaster types, the controller can declare the Monster Warrior

type to avoide the effect, unless the controller is already using a Spellcaster support card on it.

**Normal Monsters are every monster that can be Normal summoned**. No distinctions for Effect

Monsters. Attack points for Monsters will be 500 points x Level +/- 0 to 500 points. So 0~1000 for

Level 1 Monsters, 500~1500 for Level 2 Monsters, and 2500~3500 for Level 6 Monsters.

2\. **Skill Speed**: Every move in the game is considered a 'Skill', and are all assigned 'Speed's.

Drawing cards, Setting cards, Summons, Battles, Tributing, Discarding cards are all Speed 1.

Some Monster Effects, Quick-play Spells and most Traps are Speed 2. Counter Traps are

Speed 3. Skill Speeds can also accumulate.

3\. Fusion Summon: The sum of the Levels of the Material must be the same or higher than the

Level of the Fusion Monster you are trying to summon. Fusion or Synchro Monsters cannot be

used for Material, unless card text says otherwise.

4\. Synchro Summon: The sum of the Levels of the Material must be exactly the same as the

Level of the Synchro Monster you are trying to summon. The Material must all be either of the

same attribute, or all belong to the same type. Tuner Monsters aren't needed. Fusion or

Synchro Monsters cannot be used for Material, unless card text says otherwise.

5\. Ritual Summon: The sum of the Levels of the Tribute must be exactly the same as the Level

Of the Ritual Monster you are trying to summon. All tributes must be on the field.

6\. 'Banish' will be used as Cost. All 'Effects' that banish cards from the game will either be

changed to 'unconditional destruction' or 'Return to the bottom of the deck'.

7\. Sending a card to the grave from the field will always be considered as 'tribute/release' if you

do it to your own card, 'destruction' if you do it to your opponent's card. Unless card texts say

otherwise. Lava Golem is summoned by releasing 2 of your opponent's Servants. It is

considered 'tribute/release' because that's what the text says.

8\. The definition of a Extra-Deck will be 'part of the Deck that you put away for [direct

summoning from Deck]'. So you can summon from Extra-Decks not only Fusion and Synchro

Monsters, but other Monsters as well, as long as card texts allow deck summoning.

8\. I will be calling Quick-play Spells as 'Speed Spell's.

S

**And the following are the differences that separate Master rule from Gamer rule.**

S

* Chain System: You all know that Chains are resolved in reverse order. Not so here**. Chains **

**will be resolved in the order they were established**. And if you want to chain onto a card

activated already, you have to use a card with the right Speed and text. For example, when a

Trap card is activated, it's useless to try to negate it's effect with Mystical Space Typhoon,

because it's Speed 2, and the effect is to simply destroy a Spell/Trap card. But the Trap can be

stopped with a Speed 3 effect that destroys the card, because the destruction occurs before

the effect is processed and applied. The Trap can also be stopped with a Speed 2 effect that

negates the effect or the activation, instead of merely destroying the card.

*** Destiny Inception**: Yes, the famous Destiny Draw. Every character in the anime seem to be

Able to draw whatever card they want, not just the protagonists. So I just made it part of the

official system, to end the continuous controversy. Besides, since the cards are just digital

data, this way makes more sense, than paper cards (which are physical entities) switching their

positions at the bid of the duelist. I told you this story was SF as well as Fantasy.

For every card you try to Incept at once, it becomes about 5~10 times harder, so if you try to

Incept 2 cards at once, it's 5 times harder than incepting just 1 card. For 3 cards, 25 times, and

so on. It's extremely hard to draw cards near the bottom of the deck. And the more cards there

are in a deck, the harder it is to pick any card.

This addition was also part of the reason for the change in the Chain system. Otherwise, it

becomes very much possible to do crazy stuff like activating 3 Good Goblin Housekeeping and

then activating Emergency Rations, to draw 12 cards from the deck _and_ recover 3000 life

points.

As for Sprit Charge, you remember the duels against Aigami in DSOD? Same thing.

I also made it so that strong duelists are able to pick and buy powerful cards.

* Monster Effects will be divided into Passive Effects and Active Effects. The Passive Effects

are the ones like Continuous Effects and Unclassified Effects and will be marked with P. Active

Effects will be marked with A. Passive Effects cannot be negated.

* Only one card for each type of card above Level 4 can be put in the deck. So no putting 3

Black Magicians in the same deck.

*Fusion&Synchro: Materials don't go to the grave, they are removed from the game and can

be returned to the game only when the summoned Monster is returned to the hand or deck.

The idea is that the Monsters used are really 'Material' and once Summoning is complete, the

Material is incorporated into the Summoned Monster. And if the Material was in the middle of

something-battle or an effect, it carries on to the summoned Monster. Only Normal Monsters

can be used as Material, unless card text says otherwise. So you can't change Scapegoats into

Dragon type using DNA surgery and use them as Material for Fusion Summoning Five-Headed

Dragon. Fusion Monsters cannot attack during the Turn they were Fusion Summoned if any of

the Material came from the hand.

*Deck : No Extra Decks. You put Fusion and Synchro Monsters in the Main Deck. At the

timepoint of Duelist Kingdom, Decks must be at least 60 and no more than 70.

*Continuous Spells and Traps cannot be destroyed until 3 End Phases have passed for the

controller.


	4. Chapter 4

4 months later.

Yugi was standing in line to get his luggage checked. He raised a hand to the pendant and rubbed

it nervously. He'd never been out of Suginami City before, let alone abroad.

He jumped when a hand clapped on his shoulder.

"Katzya!"

"Hey," his friend grinned. "Big surprise, huh?"

"Don't. You nearly gave me a heart attack." Yugi frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"Cheering you on, and," Katzya scratched his head. "I was thinking, I might enter this tournament too."

"You? But you're not invited."

"Actually, I checked with the management people and it turns out, I only need those star markers to

enter. I can enter the tournament if I can get someone to give me one of their markers. From what I've

seen on the SNS, I'm not the only one with that idea."

"Oh," Yugi thought the markers sent to him email. They had looked simple enough, but one look at the

raw data had told him that there were at least a dozen layers of security locks on it. It would be near-impossible

to duplicate them. "But how are you going to get one of them. It's 2 for each person, which probably means

that they're not just an entry qualification thing. There must be some other use for them in the tournament,

and everyone else probably figured it out by now."

"The thing is," Katzya said thoughtfully. "Not everyone invited is interested in actually participating.

With the special rules mean most types of beatdown decks are out, and they're the most popular

for duelists. Hence, a lot of them are coming to just watch, or trade. It's a great opportunity, after

all. This tournament's the first that's on a global level."

"Can't they just trade online?"

Katzya shook his head. "Nope. If you put out a card online for sale, you have to reveal all it's

effects. A lot of the advantage in this game comes from the element of surprise. So the serious

players trade rare cards during tournaments. Usually, someone comes up to you after a duel if

they think a card they have is one you'd want."

"So... you're going to trade a card for a star marker?"

"Yeah, I do have a few rare cards...somebody might be interested. If they don't, well," Katya slapped Yugi on

his back. "I'll still be around for morale support."

Yugi smiled. "Thanks, Katzya. Good luck with your trade."

Katzya grinned. "You know I don't believe in luck."

S

S

S

Katzya quietly made his way back from the bathroom. The plane was nearly silent, with a

occasional light snores from here and there. It disturbed him. He preferred noisy, even raucous

backgrounds. Quiet meant space, too much space got him thinking...

He was surprised to see Yugi sitting up and doing something on his phone.

"Hey, Yugi." He slid back into his seat. "Did I wake you?"

"No. I got up because I had something to do."

"What are doing? You need get sleep if you're going to duel properly."

"I'm rebuiliding my deck."

"You know, it's kind of useless to do that now. Changing a few cards now won't really matter.

You should watch them duel and then change your decks to counter them."

"I'm restructuring my deck entirely."

"What?!" Katzya yelped before he remembered to keep his voice down. "Yugi, you shouldn't

be doing that the night right before the game. You're supposed to have finished with that

long before."

"I did. I have changed my mind."

"Yugi-" Katzya started, but to his surprise, his normally soft-spoken friend cut him off.

"I need to do this." Yugi said, in a tone that brooked further arguments.

"Oh...just, finish quickly, okay?"

"I will. Thank you for your concern."

Katzya settled into his seat. He had an odd feeling. Something was off about his friend,

something-

His thoughts were interrupted by Yugi's words.

"Tell me," Yugi spoke. "Why are you so insistent on entering this tournament."

"Huh?"

"Your deck-type _is_ beatdown. You already know that you would be at a great disadvantage. You

are not even the level of duelist capable of advancing in the higher tournaments. Trading your

rare cards for a star marker is likely to be a waste. So why are you so willing to take the risk."

"Oh, well... I don't think I'm at that much of a disadvantage. Everyone else would be going for

low attack point monsters, so if I go for beatdown, well, kind of like a niche market, see. And

battle _is_ the best way to pile advantages in a duel. I know I'm kinda out of my depths here but..."

He took a breath. "I'll manage. The duelist tournaments always give some prize money to

people that make it to the finals, and a tournament this level, it's going to be a lot. I need that."

Katzya sat back up. "Sizka doesn't have good eyes. Some of the nerves got damaged during the...

accident. There's a treatment for it, but she's 8 now, and brain nerves don't heal well after 10, so

considering she also needs time for the new nerves to settle in, now's the perfect time to get the

treatment." He said it all in one breath.

"Didn't the government compensate you for the accident?"

Katzya shook his head. "It wasn't the system that went wrong. We had the car on self-pilot mode,

so, we were the ones that had to pay compensation. And... it took a lot. Nearly all my parents

savings, and that was a lot to begin with." He smiled bitterly. "My parents were so sure they could

afford raising Sizka. She's a second child, so she only gets the basic government support... but my

parents belong to the generation when doctors still made a lot of money, so..." He stopped. "Sorry.

I don't even know why I'm gushing to you about this."

Yugi was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. "This is the reason you used to participate in

streetfighter tournaments." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, well, I expect when Sizka gets older, she'll want to get out more, hang with friends, go

shopping, and stuff. And she might want to go to college too. But I'm done with that crowd. That

time, I thought I was going to get a few bones broken at least. I still don't know why they walked

away. I can deal with getting broken, but it's no use if the hospital bill's heavier than the money I

earn."

"Tell me," Yugi said. "Why have you never spoken of this before?"

"You never asked, that's all. " answered Katzya. "It just didn't occur to me to tell you. " He turned

to his friend. "Why are you asking now? It's not like you-I mean, it's okay, but you never ask."

"It occurred to me to ask you this time." Yugi touched his phone's screen a few more times. A

second later, Katzya's own phone let out a hum.

"I've sent you one of my star markers. Keep your cards."

"What? But Yugi-"

"My motive for this tournament is pure curiosity. Obviously your cause is much more important."

"Oh, Yugi..." Katzya felt bad, but if he could keep those cards, his chances of reaching the finals

would be a lot bigger. "Thanks, really."

"Like I said, my goal isn't important."

"Yeah, but still...Hey, I said that it wasn't like you, but...this was kind of nice, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we hang around a lot, but we never talk like this, about important stuff."

"I apologize if you felt slighted. I believe I was trying to respect your privacy."

Katzya chuckled. "Well, you don't need to be so careful. And stop that formal tone. It's

enough that it took 6 months to get you to call me Katzya instead of Tenjoin kun."

He lay back down, swearing that he was going to pay his friend back one day. For everything...

S

S

S

Katzya stretched as best as he could. "Come on, Yugi. Let's get out of here. I'm just dying to get

off this thing." When no response came, he looked around. Yugi was staring at his phone. Was

it just the lighting, or was his friend a shade paler?

"Um, Katzya?" Yugi asked. Katzya could hear the tension in his voice. "It's supposed to be hard

to tune in with your deck if you don't have a theme for it right?"

"Yeah, most people choose something close to their heart, make their decks reflect themselves...

Something wrong?"

"No." Yugi shook his head quickly. "No, nothing's wrong. Let's go."

Before Katzya could say anything else, Yugi got up and made for the exit.

It took another long ride on the shuttle to reach the Magic & Wizard building. When they got

off, they weren't alone. Apparently half the people on the shuttle had been duelists, though

Yugi couldn't have guessed it by looking at them.

"Why are they dressed like that?" He asked Katzya in a whisper. "Nobody dresses like that in real

life."

"You're noticing now?" Katzya grinned. "Duels are done with 2 people sitting still on a stage, you

know, with a lot of people staring, so some duelists decided that they might as well look good

while they were at it, then others began doing the same... and well, now it's become something

like a fashion contest."

They were in the lobby now. There was a large crowd, and Yugi looked around to guess how

many there were. To no avail. 168cm at the age of 16 was short even by Japanese standards,

and most of the people here were well beyond that.

"How long do you think we'll have to wait?" He asked Katzya.

"I don't know." Katzya was frowning. "This isn't the way they usually do things, crowding everyone

in one place." He looked at his phone to check the time. "There's still time before noon, but it's

not like them to leave everyone just standing around. Actually, I don't even get why we're in the

company building. They usually borrow large performance halls-"

Katzya fell silent as a clear bell-like sound rang. The large screen on the lobby wall flickered to life.

"Greetings, Duelists! It's rather early, but the sensors tell me that all 204 star markers are already

in this buliding, so I might as well start the tournament."

Maximilian J. Crawford was looking down at them. He was wearing another 19th century-looking

suit, and Yugi wondered if it had anything to do with the fashion contest going on amongst duelists.

"Let me remind you of the new rule. The usual battle damage between monsters does not apply.

Whenever a monster in attack position is destroyed, either by effect or battle, half of the original

attack points of the destroyed monster will be taken from its summoner's life points. The same

goes for any monster's control wrested and then destroyed, used for tribute or material."

"There are 12 stages, each in a separate room. The star markers serve as entry passes. Each stage

is set with a different Field Spell. You are not allowed to use your own Field Spells. It is up to you

to choose which room to duel in. However, you must leave after you achieve 3 victories in a room

and go to a new stage."

"Your ultimate goal, will be to collect 24 stars in total. There is no time limit, though I expect that

the finalists will have been decided after 6 hours or so. You are free to decide on the number of

stars to use as stakes, but you are not allowed to duel without using them."

"I should also warn you that aside from the official participants, there are also Player Killers that

will walk amongst you. They are people that have been given certain advantage to help them

defeat you. You will not know who they are until the duel starts. If you manage to win against

them, you can either receive stars from them, or-

The screen blanked, and then the image of two cards appeared. The one on the left showed an

picture of a pile of golden treasure. It read 'The glory of the King's left hand'. The other card was

blank, and read 'The glory of the King's right hand'.

"-you can choose to receive either one of these cards. However, they will have meaning only if

you make it to the finals, so choose well."

The cards disappeared and Pegasus's face returned.

"The location of the rooms, and the names of the Field Spells set in them have just been sent

to you. Now, let the battle royal begin!"

At once the crowd seemed to come back to life.

"There wasn't anything about Player Killers on DM webpage." Katzya said. "Wonder what the

advantages are."

"Maybe the cards." Yugi suggested. "Maybe they can use more than 1 high level card of the same

type in their decks, or even banned cards-what's wrong?"

Katzya was staring at one of the elevators, looking aghast.

"No way," he muttered. "Or maybe I'm just seeing things. He looks different-"

"Katzya," Yugi said. "What is it?"

"I think I just saw Kaiba Seto."

"Who?"

"Kaiba Seto!"

"Who's that?"

Katzya stared at him in disbelief. "Don't tell me you've never heard of him. Kaiba Seto, the Prince

of Cards?"

Yugi shook his head.

"Don't you know who the head of KC, Kaiba Corporation is?"

"I thought that was Kaiba-um, Gozaburo?"

"You're 2 years behind... Good grief, Yugi, what do you do in your life?"

"If he's such a famous duelist, why don't I see people talking about him on net? I know I looked

enough. There aren't any video clips of him dueling, either."

"Apparently most of the his dueling that people see, are basically useless for analysis material. I

heard he only duels seriously in the finals, and all finals are close-door. And, well, he hasn't

made an appearance tournaments for 2 years, so people won't be talking about him so much.

Must be busy, running a company."

"But he was here?"

"I don't know, really. It was only for a second, and it's 2 years, so his appearance might have

changed-he's, what, 18 years old now?"

Yugi stared. "He became CEO at 16?"

"The guy's supposed to be a genius, after all. He's the one that made the VR technology KC's

selling now."

"Wait a minute," Yugi said. "That- I'm sure it had to do with photoelectric wave resonations and

Even if the AIs do the calculations, he'd still have to understand stuff like quantum mechanics to

direct the programs..."

"Told you he's a genius. Come on, we're going to miss on the first duels."

* * *

NOTE: I could never get why Jonouchi used gamble decks and trusted so much on luck, when he

knew that stuff was what ruined his dad. He should know better. And in my story, his

parents died in a car crash because of a malfunctioning AI, which is a very rare occurrence and

very unlucky. So he won't be using gamble decks here. I prefer to preserve the decks of the

main characters, but let's face it, his deck was basically trash, even by DM standards.

And yes, his new name is Tenjoin Katzya, instead of Jonouchi Katzya. Guess why. You must

have realized by now that I'm planning to make some major changes in characters. No Anzu,

no Honda. But I assure you that none of the main characters will be OC.

By the way, during the conversation at night on the plane...you do know who was talking

with Katzya, don't you?


End file.
